Samarth Bhaskar

Tangerine

Sean Baker, who also created Starlet a couple of years ago, is perhaps quietly making some of the best films about sex work in our generation. His choice to make this film with saturated colors, around LA neighborhoods not frequently featured in film, matches very well the lives of his characters. The blues, reds and oranges picked up by the iPhone anamorphic lenses are reminiscent of cheap make up that trans sex workers wear themselves. Frantic editing, hand-held jitters, and the constant momentum of a strutting camera mirrors the locomotive spirit within Sin Dee. She can’t be stopped. She is unbelievably resilient.

Baker, whether due to the constrains of independent film making or due to self-imposed discipline, is great at keeping his focus on just a couple of things. He doesn’t fill his films with too many characters, too many plot details, too many stories. All of us could learn to do less. But do those fewer things better.